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T OETTYSBin^G. 



A POEM, 



.\i rnoROK ••AisTRALiA: A Charcoal Sketch ;" "Fact and Fiction 
IN New Zealand;" "A Visit in Verse to Halemaumau," Etc. 



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OREENESBURG : 

VOGLE & WINSHEIMER, PRINTERS, 

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AT GETTYSBURG. 



" When the last war was precipitated upon us, * * * It seemed like 
an interposition of Providence, that the supreme and crowning effort to over- 
throw the Union, the old Continental A.roh, should be made upon the very soil 
of the old Keystone State. And what true son or daughter of Pennsylvania will 
ever recall, without a thrill of patriotic joy and gratitude, the heroic manner in 
which Pennsylvania troops, under Pennsylvania officers, upon Pennsylvania soil, 
rolled hack the tide of Invasion and drove the entering wedge that afterwards 

divided and (lestroyed the Confederacy." John B. Head : In Response to the 

Toast, ^^Pennsylvania, the Keystone of the Continental Arch,''^ at Greenesburg, Pa., 
4th July, 1887. 



With low-bent head and wonder-Hghted eyes, 
The soldier listened to the story of 
My wayward wand' ring twice around the world; 
And therein of the strange, the wonderful, 
And the sublime of every sea and land. 
It was my good or evil hap to make 
A part of my existence evermore: 
A myriad oi^ match-like memories, 
Betimes to kindle feelings of delight, 
Inflame the passions of my bosom, and 
Illume the mystic midnight of my mind. 
Now, with weird shimmering- auroral dreams, 
Anon, with flashing incandescent thoughts — 
The liehtnine-scissored silhouettes of God 
Within the storm-rack of the intellect! 



My talc of travel told, the veteran, 
TiiniultLiously moved, a moment stood 
With heaviny bosom and with trembling lip ; 
Then, grasping- my righ.t hand, and glancing- from 
My eyes to Heavei^. as his gathered thoughts 
Found utterance in gesture, look, and speech. 
Pronounced these words with solemn emphasis : 
"My friend! But to have been where you have been, 
And to have seen what )'Ou have seen, by God ! 
I would have been a louse upon your head ! " 

This happened hence a year or more. Since then, 
The soldier and his speech have haunted me ; 
And ever and anon I find myseli 
Confronting him in fancy with a change 
Of parts upon the world-wide stage of life — 
I having heard his story, as he' mine — 
Assuming his emotion as my own — 
Appropriating gesture, look, and speech — 
"My friend ! But to have been where you have been, 
And to have seen what )'ou have seen, by God ! 
I would have been a louse upon your head !" 

And why ? The soldier wore a coat of blue, 
And fought among the brave at Gettysburg I 
While I — O cruel fate! — was far away! 
While I, a son of Pennsylvania ! 



Was not amono- the first to stand or fall 
Before the foe, beneath my mother's roof 
And on her holy hearth, at Gettysburg ! 
Unworthy I — the soldier's peer in age ! 
Ignoble I — The soldier's peer in strength ! 
Benothinged I — a vagabond beyond 
The pale of immortality for aye ! 

O soldier of the country of my birth ! 
All would I oive that I have Qrained within 
The worlds of wonder of the New and Old, 
Had I thy history within my heart ! 
That I might thrill as I have never yet, 
While I read what is written there in blood : 
I faced my country's foe at Gettysburg ! 
I fired a shot — I drove a bayonet — 
I clubbed an empty gun at Gettysburg ! 
Or, glory of all glories of the earth ! 
I bore the shot and shell betattered flag — 
I bore the blood and brain bespattered flag- 
I bore the Stars and Stripes at Gettysburg ! 

Aye ! veteran of the United States ! 
All would I give that haply I have gained — 
Alone in eldritch Australasian wilds. 
Or mingling witli the millions of Cathay ; 
Agape in London's inwalled wonder worlds, 



Or musing" on the moonlit Amazon ; 

Dreaming the dream of marble of the Taj, 
Or thinkino- the eternal thoughts of Rome ; 

Scaling Corea's wall against the world, 

Or stayed by storms in Patagonian wastes ; 

Amid Himal'va's heaven-kissing heiehts, 

Or Halemaumau's hell-ignited fires ; 

Elate before a list'ning Emperor, 

Or aw-ed at the Annointed's Holy Tomb ! — 

All ! all ! had I as thou swelled with my voice 

The shout of victory at Gettysburg ! 

All ! all ! could I as thou now^ say in truth, 

I share the glory of IMMORTAL MEADE! 



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